“Mike Smith Makes A Ton Of Money”
January 10th, 2018
“Sell all those damn Google shares when it hits $1,109.”
One would think that an NFL Network reporter who peddles fake news to the masses would get fired or suspended by the league, which owns the network.
Maybe not.
Perhaps only if the victim is the Cowboys, Patriots, Steelers, Raiders or Giants, or the other clubs that generate massive national and international interest?
Anyway, that brings Joe to NFL Network insider reporter Ian Rapoport, who jumped on his airwaves a month ago to tell the world that Dirk Koetter and Jameis Winston have a troubled relationship. Jameis felt wronged and not supported by Koetter’s public reaction to Jameis’ shoulder injury, Rapoport said, and Rapoport claimed Jameis is no fan of the predictability of Koetter’s offense.
Everyone at One Buc Palace loudly called BS, but Rapoport stood by his claim and, apparently, was given a thumbs-up by his employer. (Keep in mind Team Glazer kinda owns a piece of NFL Network.)
A week after that report, Rapoport was doubling down during an interview with WDAE-AM 620 in Tampa. He didn’t back off an inch.
So is Rapoport credible? You decide.
He was back on WDAE last week and said the Bucs “definitely” had some interest in hiring Jon Gruden, aka Chucky. Rapoport also said the price tag was too steep for Tampa Bay.
“To completely do that, to change over the whole staff, to pay Dirk Koetter what’s left [on his contract], his entire staff, Mike Smith makes a ton of money, you know, all of these things,” Rapoport said. “To do that is just immense, and [Team Glazer] obviously decided it wasn’t worth it.”
Hmm, so how much is Mike Smith earning with the fancy and mysterious contract extension/pay increase he earned last offseason?
Hopefully, there’s still $17 million laying around for the right defensive lineman.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:08 am
Looks like in Tampa, when you take a roster with holes and acknowledge deficiencies and cover all those holes and then to carry the team to a 5 game win streak that drug the franchise to rare winning season, that you rightfully get rewarded!!!!!!!
And once again the main resources went to fix the offense, and they gambled with the defensive roster!!! and injuries sunk that gamble!!!!!!! Excited to see the defensive roster get rectified this offseason!!!!!!!!!
Fix the “real” issue, the Trenches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 10:08 am
Said it before and I will say it again. Koetter staying doesn’t bother me because I would like a coach to stick around for longer than 2 years. That being said I have no excuse to keep Mike Smith… The defense has way to much talent to be 32nd in the NFL. I am not saying I expect top 5 or even top 10 but 32nd in the NFL?
January 10th, 2018 at 10:11 am
Ansah might take more than 17 mil.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:12 am
@doolnutts
Bucs Defense 22nd in the league!!!!!!
Last I checked, its points not yards that win games!!!!!!
The sheep have been lead astray!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 10:17 am
Agree with you Joe but I’m actually glad the NFL Net lets Rappaport report what he “believes” he’s found. The NFL already controls enough of what I see. I prefer to follow your admonition.
“So is Rapoport credible? You decide.”
Well he certainly doesn’t seem credible on THIS report. I do not follow Rappaport and so cannot put his work into perspective.
So Joe is all of Rappaports stuff this weak? All reporters, bloggers, writers have bad moments…some have them consistently..those are the ones I avoid.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:24 am
well, dirk and smitty both know they are on the hot seat as of now!!!!!….lets hope they don’t sh!t the bed in 2018!!!!!
we all saw how this staff handled adversity…..cant wait to see how they handle pressure!!!!!!
dirk and smitty could make bucs history together next year….if they continue their trend with slow starts and begin the season 1-3 or 0-4 they wont make it pass OCT!!!!!…..GO BUCS!!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 10:29 am
Go look at the 2018 schedule…we done already lol
January 10th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Again if you haven’t figured out that koetter lies constantly and is “trying” to play the media regularly then idk what to told ya.
Rapport has little to gain and nothing to lose, his credentials won’t get pulled if he’s not kissing ass at obp.
Koetter on the other hand has EVERYTHING to lose so you be the judge.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:32 am
I still think he’s credible and I think he’s right…..
the glazers never came out until the last minute when they absolutely knew they lost out on gruden….and then they only gave dirk and licht 1 year so that tells me they will be looking for a new coach this year if we don’t show major improvement….I think the price was too high for the glazers…..
but as the sang goes, ” you get what you pay for”…..GO BUCS!!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 10:33 am
I thot and agreed with msmith that sack we’re overrated in his scheme
Boy I was wrong. This scheme has to be the worse I ever saw.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:39 am
J0E, Thank you for calling out Rappaport like this. He crossed morality lines in recent weeks.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:49 am
Build a top DL and the SB’s will come. Bucs need to spend money to fix this. That is what has me worried.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:49 am
@Bucaneer Bonzai
So true.
Rapaport crossed many lines last week.
He wrote a story saying if the Titans lost, then Mularkey would lose his job.
He wrote that the day of the Titans game!!!
Their first playoff game in years!
Rapaport dropped that report on purpose on the Titans game day.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:49 am
Nah Rapport is credible. Always has been from what I’ve seen. Maybe his report didn’t actually come from Winston’s mouth but I’d bet it came from somewhere within the team. From who and for what reason is anybody’s guess.
My guess would be to see what Winston’s reaction would be and to see if Dirk still has his grip on the team.
January 10th, 2018 at 10:52 am
Spbf
How would you feel if I told you that Rapport was the first to report JW’s Uber allegation?
January 10th, 2018 at 10:54 am
If going bananas in free agency is the only thing that can save this coaching staffs job….. I’m tired of the off-season being the most exciting aspect of this organization. This coaching staff is trash and I doubt they will change anything about the way they conduct business and we might as well wait to start cheering now for the 2019 season, this season is already lost and it hasn’t started
January 10th, 2018 at 10:54 am
777
That was being reported all week. Do you guys Twitter?
January 10th, 2018 at 10:55 am
DB55 Says
“Again if you haven’t figured out that koetter lies constantly and is “trying” to play the media regularly then idk what to told ya.
Rapport has little to gain and nothing to lose, his credentials won’t get pulled if he’s not kissing ass at obp. ”
I have to disagree with both accounts, but don’t take it personally.
First, you have no evidence that Koetter has lied to us. I’m sure he doesn’t tell us everything, but he’s a pretty straight shooter otherwise. Yes, he has a job to lose…but he’s a respected coach…he could get hired with another team easily, even if it isn’t as a head coach. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t value his job though.
Second, Rapport has everything to lose. Credibility is everything to him. Staying in demand is everything to him. The more national headlines he makes, the more his name is out there and the more in demand he is. And he can turn that into job security and higher salary.
January 10th, 2018 at 11:16 am
None of it matters… glazers have no intention of fielding a respectable team. They could careless about winning just cashing tv money checks similar to the way Tampa’s favorite doll playing super hero has never been great nor has any desire to win. It’s all about cashing checks for the heartless bucs with the exception of a few new players but cancer93 is doing his best to get them onboard by sucking the will to win from thier souls.
January 10th, 2018 at 11:19 am
I’ve followed Rapoport since his days at the Birmingham (AL) News. He has always been credible and measured…even for a Bama best writer, which is a hard place to be consistently credible and measured 😉
I think his source on Jameis/Koetter is Anton Winston. Before there was any news of a rift, Scott Reynolds had a long interview with the elder Winston. The vibe he got from Anton was that he’s a little meh on Koetter. That was coming off a winning season and all the building expectations. Not much was made of the exchange, but my red flag went waaaaaay up, and I hadn’t even been browsing photos of Rachel Watson, either!
Consider that when trying to identify who might get loose lips about a schism between player and coach. Amid a losing streak, a lost season, public calls from DJax about involvement, and worse…if the national media treated your son as a pariah all his adult life and you think his injury this season was a major factor—you don’t think Papa Bear had a few things to say if Rapoport came calling?
January 10th, 2018 at 11:37 am
Interesting Buccan8
But I fall back on Winston’s reaction to this “news” in the press conference as the decider for me as to what’s what.
Very hard for me to believe that Winston could speak with such conviction and sincerity in defense of his coach and their relationship if Rappaport’s report (from an un-named source) was true.
January 10th, 2018 at 11:40 am
@ Realist
Bucs defense was 31st in yards given up per drive and 32nd in points given up per drive.
There is no way to spin that sh1t. It was f*cking terrible lol.
January 10th, 2018 at 11:55 am
@lord of corn
yes the defense was disappointing, and injured, and the defense still finished tied 22nd in the league at 23.9 pts per game!!!!!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 12:12 pm
Lol joe nice caption on the mike smith picture. First time a laughed out loud
January 10th, 2018 at 12:26 pm
The Buc Realist Says:
January 10th, 2018 at 11:55 am
@lord of corn
yes the defense was disappointing, and injured, and the defense still finished tied 22nd in the league at 23.9 pts per game!!!!!!!!
***************************************************************
ONLY @REALIST THINKS BEING RANKED 22ND IN THE LEAGUE IS A GOOD THING!!!!!
like you said @LC: There is no way to spin that sh1t. It was f*cking terrible lol.
GO BUCS!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 12:35 pm
@ Realist
I agree the injuries/ talent Smith had to work with most weeks as a result was a lot to overcome. That’s why I give him more of a pass than Koetter for the defense’s failures vs the offense’s failures. Then again having your QB hurt most the year is about as big as an injury excuse anyone could have.
Still – I just wouldn’t hang my hat on that 22nd ranking. It’s not very meaningful compared to average points allowed per drive / average yards allowed per drive.
If anything – it just shows that our offense was able to take time off the clock and move the ball throughout a game in a way that prevented the defense from being gouged for even more points. We were 9th in total offensive yards. That should help a defense a ton – compared to say the Colts who had 1500 less yards.
We only punted 65 times last year – which was 5th best in the league. For comparison – the Colts punted 84 times – essentially forcing their defense to play 1-2 more series per game on average than the Bucs.
We were bad in give-aways- with 27- but the league average was 22. So we hurt our defense by 5 possessions in that sense; but the league average for punts was 75 – so we saved our defense by 10 possessions compared to average.
So in general – our defense was actually helped a bit by our offense – in terms of how many series they would have to play on average vs the rest of the NFL – even when you take into account the turnovers. I’m sure the starting field position was also favorable given our punter.
January 10th, 2018 at 12:38 pm
DC Mike Smith should be serving hard time for robbery.
January 10th, 2018 at 1:16 pm
Whatever he was paid was too much, in my opinion. Just sayin’!
January 10th, 2018 at 1:31 pm
@lord cornelius
For the year, offensive snaps 1034 vs defensive snaps 1011, with a avg for offensive time of possession for 29:40 in 2017!!!!!!!!!!!
22nd in points allowed is a huge stat when you see all the others!!!!!!
another stat that is telling is ranked percentage of a team reaching the redzone and scoring
Bucs-
offense ranked 24th
defense ranked 17th
Head Coach Koetter said in the end of the year press conference, which to me is the closes to the truth you will hear coaches speak!!!!!! That the Bucs have 2 problems, Scoring on offense and pass rush on defense!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 1:37 pm
@ Doolnuts – Why do you think they have so much talent. This is how drafts have gone the last few years:
1) Jameis
2) Mike Evans
3) ASJ
4) OJ Howard
4) D Smith
5) Ali Marpet
Defense
1) Hargreaves
2) J Evans
You cant focus on offense via the top tier of then draft and then when the neglected defense fails claim that they have “so much talent.” Simply put,,,they dont!
January 10th, 2018 at 1:40 pm
Ian Rapoport was correct on his reporting concerning Dirk and Jameis.
January 10th, 2018 at 1:51 pm
@ Realist
The fact that the offense moved the ball that much; punted that little; and still averaged less TOP is just more of an indictment on the defense not getting stops.
Either way I agree – the key to this team is a pass rush and putting up points in the red zone. We don’t have enough resources to become an elite defense this year imo though. It’s just unrealistic given what we need.
My realistic hope – is that we at least get an average pass rush going with our front 4 – via personnel upgrades; along with at least average coverage in the secondary. If we can just be an average overall defense; and not bottom barrel; that will help a lot. I.e. top 16 in all major important categories (3rd down / run defense / pass defense / etc).
I think for this team to make the jump – we need to see the offense putting up like 24-25 PPG vs 20-21. All we need for that is to upgrade a few pieces on O-line, add a RB, and call better plays and hope for Winston to be healthy next year. I think that’s a realistic turnaround we can make in one year – given the talent we have.
I’m going to give this staff my full support. I still believe in them more than I did Lovie/Schiano/Rah; but 2017 was simply unacceptable coaching still imo.
January 10th, 2018 at 2:18 pm
@Lord Corn
I agree with you on the offense in the 24-25 ppg adn it would not surprise me as the production vs expectation is just a year behind! And an add RB will help cut down on turnovers in my opinion as it will take pressure off the only thing on offense that was consistent of the intermediate pass game!!!!!!
And I agree about the full support this coming year, and if it is the same, then I will be where most of the sheep are now!!!!!! The fire the defensive staff after last year is misguided in my opinion!!!! If they can upgrade a position coach I would be fine with that, But I want to see players grow in a system instead of learning a new system every two years!!!! They over achieved with the roster talent in 2016 and under achieved with the talent in 2017!!! This should be a very interesting offseason!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 2:28 pm
Smith is not worth what he is paid!!! Can’t win 9 games in 2016 and come back the next season with basically the same defense and win just 5…..Something happened and Smith never corrected it and Irk just stood by an watched it all unfold. Sorry folks but 2018 is going to be a L O O O O N G disappointing year. I’m seriously thinking about jumping board Chucky’s Fun Wagon and learn how to say GO RAIDERS instead of GO BUCS!!!! What Lick and Irk do in Free Agency this year will determine my Faith & Loyalty to the TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS!!!!
January 10th, 2018 at 11:12 pm
I personally believe what Rapport said for both instances and its the Bucs job to deny it.
I also personally believe we will use free agency and the draft to help out the defense as well as real RB to pair with Barber. I still pray we get rid of Smith but I believe a considerable amount of time And money will be put into fixing our D
January 11th, 2018 at 6:24 am
No matter what ,our defense line never could get to the QB in the last 15 years. Well, maybe they did but it was once every 6 games.
January 12th, 2018 at 5:07 am
monken acts all alfa these days because he believes he is next up when “welcome back koetter” flops out…the glazers gotta have serious keesters to make monken new head honcho…lolzzzzz
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